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Register those C band satellite dishes!

UPDATE:The registration deadline has been extended to October 17th, 2018. Switch back to procrastination mode…

Satellite dishs, WABC transmitter site, Lodi, NJ

Unless you have been sleeping under a rock, you should already be aware of the FCC request to register the C band Receive Only (RO) satellite dishes. This development comes from the never ending drive for more bandwidth from the mobile phone/data networks (remember the desire to use GPS frequencies for mobile data a few years ago). Normally, this type of registration would require a full frequency coordination study, however until July 18th, this requirement has been waived. The registration is completed online with the filing of FCC form 312 and a $435.00 filing fee. West Wood One has supplied and example form (.pdf) which shows the required information for each dish. Schedule B of FCC form 312 requires quite a bit of technical information required for each dish:

Site Coordinates (must be NAD27 according to the instructions on the form)

Site elevation AMSL in meters

Dish height to top of dish in meters

Dish make and model number

Dish size

Dish mid band gain

Emission designator (WWO uses 36M0G7W other providers may be different)

Eastern and Western arc limits

Eastern and Western arc limit elevation angles

Eastern and Western arc limit azimuth angles

Most of this is intuitive. There are several steps to getting the information in the correct format. Google maps (or other mapping programs) will give coordinates in decimal format. To convert to Degrees Minutes Seconds in NAD27 use NADCON. Site elevation can be found using free map tools elevation finder. To determine the arc, a smart phone app such as Satellite Finder or Dish Pointer can be used. If not actually on site, then Dishpointer.com can be used to determine the arc.

My best suggestion is to include as much of the arc as possible for each location. The future cannot be predicted with any degree of accuracy and it is entirely possible that the current satellite position may not be used forever.

Axiom

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...radio was discovered, and not invented, and that these frequencies and principles were always in existence long before man was aware of them. Therefore, no one owns them. They are there as free as sunlight, which is a higher frequency form of the same energy.
~Alan Weiner